Image: Patrick Haney | Flickr

I invite you to think about how you can use dynamic installations within your built form designs to enhance effects for your occupants as they travel and experience your buildings. For example, with video installations you may make a statement, create a new kind of beauty or even “reframe” something that has been in existence without changing for a long time.

The Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, Chicago, presents quite a unique experience. Through video that is integrated into its built form, this design brings forth activity, meaning and engagement for its users. As you can see in the image above, the video (of the face) has been set to synchronize with natural elements that are also in motion — and as water springs forward, human curiosity to engage is triggered.

By giving built form a way to reframe its context in real time — where LED lights light the front face of each tower as water streams outward — the combination between nature (in this case water), built form, and video create such a unique dialogue that those experiencing it will likely …[Read Full Article]…

Image: Todd Ehlers | Flickr

Technology does not just affect the way we construct buildings. It also affects the way you as an architect communicate your vision. From the time of drafting building blueprints by hand to our present day drafting carried out in virtual model spaces, your goal as an architect is still the same — to realize your vision and communicate it back to yourself as well as to others.

Yet, I cannot help but question what within the design process is different within an architect’s mindset as they work to develop building blueprints by hand-drafting versus creating those all-too-familiar AutoCAD drawings. First, I would say that because changes seem easier to fix due to all of the AutoCAD X-referencing which can populate one change on one drawing through the entire set, architects today are encouraged to simultaneously experiment and work more quickly (depending upon what stage of the project they are in).

Secondly, I would also estimate that because AutoCAD can be very seamlessly linked to 3-D modeling programs such as 3-D studio Max, it becomes possible to see a more …[Read Full Article]…

Over recent years, digital media for architectural design has given way to a multitude of different 3D room design tools. As such, tools like 3D Studio Max, Rhino, Revit and now Twinmotion2 have entered the design field giving architects a new sort of “pen” with which to virtually “inK” their designs, not only to benefit their own design process — but to more quickly produce 3D room design still visualizations and walk-throughs to communicate those pivotal design decisions which they make to their clients.

3D Room Design Using Twinmotion2
Image: Creative Tools | Flickr

With this I ask, in what ways do digital media tools for architectural design bring value to the details within your projects — such as by making tangible that which is not yet realized? Also, what and why do you choose to model certain aspects of your design, and what do you do with that information to make your design even better?

As you begin to answer the above questions, I encourage you to read the following top seven ways in which 3D room design can help you make the details of your architectural design sing. …[Read Full Article]…

New technologies like mobile laser scanners are making it easier to capture greater detail of real-life 3D space in a fraction of the time it would normally take to mentally deconstruct, document and virtually render those spaces for either architectural contract documents or for an architectural visualization. Such technologies, as they advance, are helping architects to bring back to the office what they observe on the field — particularly helpful if working to design a project which involves demolition, restoration or an addition.

In a recent article I read entitled Laser-Loaded Backpack Creates Instant 3D Model Interiors, researchers at UC Berkeley are said to be developing and testing a prototype for a mobile backpack of laser scanners that now can help people to very quickly document detailed aspects of a building’s interior by simply walking through it with a backpack on (this high-tech backpack will do the scanning). In the article the author also pointed out that similar to Google Earth’s GPS system which now documents street-level views of buildings and other aspects of urban landscape, mobile laser scanners are enabling us with a way to record interiors. And as was suggested in the article, perhaps just about all spaces can potentially become virtually accessible with this new streamlined and easy to use technology. (And just as we can see most any exterior street space via the Internet today, it could soon be possible to also …[Read Full Article]…

Image: Tor Lindstrand | Flickr
The use of different game engines to explore interfaces between gaming and the production of space.
--- by Tor LIndstrand (Production of Architecture)

I think it is interesting for you as an architect to take a look at another dimension of something you use everyday — the computer. More specifically, think of how you typically work to design your own visualizations of a building design for the future.

Perhaps you start with real world challenges and work backwards from them to come up with your masterpiece. But what if, instead, you could just have a “design playground” of sorts, in which to hone your design skills and let your problem solving skills sharpen — without the constant constraints from your typical “real-world” way of working. What if you could engage in an “architectural gaming environment”?

In an interesting talk given by Jane McGonigal, entitled Gaming Can Make a Better World, she shares the idea that so many people are gaming today, and so many more will be gaming in the future, that it only stands to our benefit to capitalize upon this tremendous resource which is building exponentially right now. In the video below, you will hear how she describes the unique qualities that gamers have (like the ability to get up and try again when attempts don’t work, coupled with their “tight-knit social fabric” which can give them a collective edge).

In the video, McGonigal states that gamers actually are a resource with untapped potential to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. And since gamers have certain innate qualities that are developed and honed over so much time spent gaming, they develop certain characteristics or qualities that make them an invaluable resource to help with …[Read Full Article]…

Image: lumaxart | Flickr

New technologies and tools are surfacing faster and faster these days, and one that has major impact and momentum is BIM, a digital media tool which allows architects to create a virtual building information model.

Such BIM design technologies are contributing to what some say will lead to major paradigm shifts for architecture firms — namely in the way architects engage in their own design process as well as the ability to foster greater collaboration between clients, contractors and consultants.

BIM design tools will allow for great detail in virtual building models, where an architectural design will will come together in more meaningful and cross-collaborative ways — beyond anything typical AutoCAD models have been able to do thus-far.

Such BIM visualization tools allow for much more, like the ability to model a building with everything from partitions, to plumbing and HVAC systems. Furthermore, BIM design will also allow architectural team members to study light and energy before the building is ever built. And yet, it does still more.

As the article entitled “BIM Me Up, Scotty” explains, this kind of Building Information Model can work with applications which allow you, as an architect, to run what is called “clash detection“. This can go a long way toward preventing design problems and conflicts, large and small, very early on in the design process. This works by allowing computer processes to check the model against certain rules like code regulations, accessibility requirements and even structural system issues. Wouldn’t you want to know about such problems early on in your design process, as opposed to finding out about them later on?…when they cost more money and are more difficult to fix.

What Does BIM Design Mean for Your Creative Process?

At present, many architects work with digital media tools like 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD, Revit and Rhino for computer visualizations and modeling. However, BIM has the potential and power to bring a new dimension to your world of architectural design, perhaps helping to further empower your firm.

By being able to model your building in such great detail early on in your design process, you will be able to reduce …[Read Full Article]…

Image: Ben Chau | Flickr

Throughout your architectural design process it is often the case that you need different tools at different points in time as you design. While some tools help you to visualize what goes on during your personalized architecture process, others help you to visualize what will go on within your final building design. So, what happens when these two worlds start to merge? Will your design visualizations be as immersive as the actual methods you use to communicate your designs to clients and other team members?

At different phases during your design process you explore different things. You engage in different levels of refinement and you solve an array of problems and questions that all have project-wide consequences and effects. You probably use a combination of both digital media information visualizations and 3D modeling methods. In fact, many architects today are delving into 4D information modeling techniques involving BIM leading-edge tools.

Whatever the case, it is paramount that your digital media design tools help to streamline your own architecture process. And a key to this is to make sure these tools are intuitive and promote creative thinking.

Digital Media Tools that Dig into the Minds of Your Occupants

Design project tools that reduce redundancy, error and cost during your architectural design process can go a long way toward increasing the quality and reducing the cost of your building — while also increasing the actual speed with which you can design. But there are a few things that come to mind when questioning how these tools can evolve, to get even better.

What if your architectural design tool could also help you extract …[Read Full Article]…

Image: courtneyBolton | Flickr

When designing, do you begin with a preconceived idea of what your final design will look and feel like? Do you gain inspiration and insight from things that surround you, like nature or someone else’s design? Or do you start a design not knowing what your own creative process will give birth to? In other words ——

As you design do you work toward an “end vision” or do you take on a more “experimental” design approach where you test design outcomes? Do you predominantly do one of these, or both?

These are interesting and important questions to ask yourself, whether you are a seasoned architect or are just beginning your journey as an architectural designer — particularly because as new technologies and design paradigm shifts present themselves, you should want to be well equipped to engage in both at the right times and in the right ways during your design efforts.

New Design Technology Tools Can Enhance Your Design Process

Yes, you can crunch through various design schemes and options at speeds limited by the quickness of your design abilities and your computer technologies, but as an architect it is your responsibility to become the best critic of your own work, especially as new …[Read Full Article]…